In general terms, silver halide photographic materials have photographic layers in which a hydrophilic colloid is used as a binder, and so they have a disadvantage in that changes in dimensions occur as a result of the expansion and contraction of the photographic layer due to changes in temperature and humidity, and as a result of development processing.
These changes in the dimensions of silver halide photographic materials are a very serious disadvantage for materials used for multicolor printing which involve the reproduction of screen dot images and precise line drawings.
Various methods are known for improving the dimensional stability of silver halide photographic materials.
For example, a technique in which the ratio of the thickness of the hydrophilic colloid layer and the support is defined has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,201,250, and methods in which polymer latexes are added to the hydrophilic colloid photographic layer have been disclosed in JP-B-39-4272, JP-B-39-17702, JP-B-43-13482, JP-B-45-5331, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 237,600, 2,763,625, 2,772,166, 2,852,386, 2,853,457, 3,397,988, 3,411,911 and 3,411,912. (The term "JP-B" as used herein means an "examined Japanese patent publication".)
The change in dimension accompanying development processing are caused by the development processing, and since the dimensions at the time of exposure and after development are different they are of great importance from the point of view of the use of silver halide photographic materials. The above mentioned techniques, however fall short of completely overcoming the problem. Thus, it is still necessary to reduce the change in dimension of silver halide photographic materials arising from changes in temperature and humidity.
A technique in which a vinylidene chloride subbing layer is used for improving dimensional stability with respect to development processing has been disclosed in JP-A-64-538. (The term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application".) However, it is not possible to improve the dimensional stability in respect of development processing satisfactorily even with this technique, and further improvement is still required.